Powerpoint 2013 Tips & Tricks

John Hales

• Publisher: QuickStudy Reference Guides
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781423240747
• Topic: Informatique
• Subtopic: Sciences générales de l'informatique

Unleash the power of the newest version of PowerPoint with this new addition to our Office Tips & Tricks line of QuickStudy® guides. Go beyond the basics of PowerPoint and learn time-saving tricks and best practices, including animations, using objects, and more, bringing your PowerPoint presentations to the next level.

Layout & Design

Using Layers

Every object on a slide will have its own layer. To better understand layers, imagine that every object is on a transparency the size of the slide and you can see through all areas that do not have objects. What you would see on the slide is the same as if you stacked all the transparencies together and looked down on them from above. With layers, objects can hide behind others or be moved to the front or anywhere in between. Utilizing layers effectively will allow you to manipulate what is seen and what is hidden, making for cleaner, sharper images and slides, especially when using animations and when looking at what will print in handouts.

To view the layers & display the Selection pane:

• On the Home tab, click Arrange
  
  . This will bring up a drop-down list.
• Click Selection Pane
  
  .

This will bring up the Selection pane. This tool has three primary functions: controlling the visibility of objects, renaming objects, and reordering objects on the slide.

Notice how much information is presented in this screen shot. Observe the names for the heart, arrow, and rectangles; these are typical names that you would see when working with layers or animations. When there are multiples of the same shape (e.g., the rectangles), only the numbers are different; therefore, when there are many similar shapes, this can be quite confusing. This is where changing the names of the objects in the Selection pane will be of great benefit (see To rename an object).

Changing Visibility

An object is visible by default. However, sometimes it is desirable to layer objects, rendering the objects on the lower layers hidden from view. This creates challenges when an object on a lower layer needs to be adjusted or animated. If you want to change a property (e.g., the size or color) of an object but it is under another positioned object that you don’t want to move, you can hide the object above so that you can work on the one underneath.

To hide an object:

• Make sure the Selection pane is open.
• Click the eye
  
  to the right of the object to hide it.

To unhide an object:

• Click on the line
  
  to the right of the object to unhide it. The eye will reappear, as will the object on the slide.

Renaming Layers

The more objects that are on the slide, the more confusing it can be to arrange the layers. The Selection pane allows you to rename objects, which will assist in layering and animating them. To rename an object:

• In the Selection pane, click any object. The object will be selected on the slide and in the pane.
• Double-click the object, and type in the new name for the object. The name is saved automatically.

Reordering Layers

It is important to know how to reorder the layers so that the slide will appear as you wish. This can be done with or without the Selection pane, although with the Selection pane, you will know where your changes fit in with all of the other layers.

To reorder layers using the Selection pane:

• In the Selection pane, click the name of the layer or object on the slide.
• Click the Bring Forward
  
  arrow or the Send Backward
  
  arrow at the top of the pane. You can see the objects on the slide change as they are being rearranged. NOTE: Bring Forward and Send Backward will move the object either forward or backward one layer for each click.

To reorder layers without using the Selection pane:

• Click an object.
• On the Home tab, click Arrange
  
  . This will bring up a drop-down menu.
• Click any of the following: Bring to Front, Send to Back, Bring Forward, or Send Backward.

Grouping Objects

There are times when you want objects to stay positioned relative to other objects. Grouping objects together can be very helpful when moving or positioning multiple objects. Groupi...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Preparing the Slide Deck
• Layout & Design
• Animation
• Presenting
• Presentation Best Practices